Latest Additions include many resources from Archive.org

I have just totalled the number of archive.org pages I have reviewed over the past four years while compiling genealogical data for the Online Genealogical Index.  These scanned books includ historical magazines, pedigrees, local histories, school records, graveyard surveys,  parish registers, etc.  The total number of pages I have personally examined is over 110,000.  That is a lot of paperbacks!

The fruit of my labour are 3,768 links to genealogical data found at archive.org.  You may wonder why this is such a big deal seeing that the OGI has over 372,000 data sets.  Many of these digital books are unique and valuable resources.

Here are some impressive examples of the types of resources found at archive.org:

Phillimore's Marriage Register collections including this one for Harwell, Berkshire
Memorial Inscriptions in the church and churchyard for Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire
School Registers from Repton, Derbyshire (includes birth dates and parent's name)
Complete Parish Registers like this one from Doddinton Pigot, Lincolnshire
Detailed pedigrees similar to this discovery for the Manners family from Framlington, Northumberland (No connection to my family so far!)
All gravestones at Almondbury, All Saints, Yorkshire published in 1880.

The value of graveyard surveys from old books and magazines is that many of these were done in the 1800s and the older headstones are either illegible, damaged or missing today.

Archive.org is an amazing website with everything from historical books to newsreel footage, rare concert audio, classic video games (you can play them right on the website!), photo collections and, one of my favourites, backups of "dead" websites (see web.archive.org).  The latter is an amazing resource for genealogical information.  More on that in a future blog post.

To see Archive.org's genelealogical collection, click HERE.  With over 134,000 genealogical books and magazines, I personally have a lot of pages left to review, thousands of hours of reading!

Additions to the OGI in March include:

Marriage Records from Cumberland, Denbighshire, Durham, Lancashire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
Parish Registers and Memorial Inscriptions from Cheshire, Kent, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire and Westmorland.
School Registers from Essex, Kent, London, Middlesex, Surrey and Yorkshire.
Welsh War Memorials from Denbighshire, Flintshire and Merionethshire.

I will be 'quiet' for a few weeks as I travel to the United States with my family to attend the wedding of my daughter, Reilly, and Samuel Pakratz of Tooele, Utah.  As people have reminded me, "That's what happens when you send your daughter to university in Utah!"  We are very happy and look forward to meeting Sam and his family.

I will return ready to search the depths of the internet for more unique and valuable genealogical treasures!

Best wishes and a Happy Easter to all,

Tim Manners
http://ogindex.org

BIG NEWS! The 1939 Register of England & Wales is now available on MyHeritage

I had to share this with the users of the Online Genealogical Index as it is an excellent resource for researching more recent ancestors from 1939.

The 1939 Register used to be only available on findmypast with a special additional subscription and is still the only place to see the original images from this collection.

MyHeritage now hosts a copy of the 33+ million records of those living in England and Wales in 1939.

MyHeritage also offers free accounts for members of the LDS Church 
(LDS members can sign up by going to http://familysearch.org/partneraccess and click on MyHeritage)

MyHeritage is also available at any LDS Family History Center (find one near you here)

BUT the collection is not well advertised on their site so you can find it by doing the following once you have your own account....

1.  Login at http://www.myheritage.com
2.  Put your mouse over (do NOT click) the heading "Research"
3.  Click on "Collection Catalog"
4.  Click on the image or heading for "1939 Register of England & Wales" (or type the word '1939' into the search field at the top of the list and hit Enter)
The direct link to this collection is: https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10678/1939-register-of-england-wales

You can now search for your ancestor!  Those younger than 100 years who have not been matched to a death record will be hidden in the results.  Every year, as the 100 year mark approaches, more records will become visible.

Enjoy!